The Colour of my Sins
by ThriceW
Summary: Hephaestion has a new lover and Alexander doesn't like it. Both realize something about one another that frightens them but gives them...what? Please R&R! :)


AN--Thank you so much to everyone that reviewed 'The Moon to my Sun'!! It was very, very encouraging. :) Obviously because here is something else for you all. I hope you enjoy this one as much as you enjoyed my first one.

Disclaimer--Don't own it, don't sue. Am already as poor as a pauper. I would be very sad if you took away my fencing sword and my last thirty bucks.

**The Colour of my Sins**

Intense brown eyes stared at him from over the rim of the cup but he tried desperately to ignore them. Hephaestion tilted his head to the side to listen to his new lover explain something that had caught the attention of those around him, they laughed and although he did too, it was forced. His mind was still on the beautiful, enigmatic and powerful man that sat glowering in the corner, watching him like a hawk.

"I retire for the night." Alexander's voice boomed in the hall and he got up, stalking from the banquet hall without looking back.

Hephaestion's throat was tight and sore from talking too much, his face hurt from smiling and his eyes stung from the smoke and fragrance that seemed to float in a heavy fog in the room. He scanned the room, confusion and perplexity marked the faces of those who knew Alexander but they immediately forgot their leader's abrupt leave.

Hephaestion did not.

His lover sat beside him, laughing, charismatic and the life of the party. Standing, his curiosity getter the better of him, he left in search his Alexander.

After a while of searching, Hephaestion found him in his rooms, staring out over the beautiful, sleeping city. Babylon hugged the hills like a glittering blanket of stars at night, just as beautiful and just as seemingly forbidden to him. "What is wrong, Alexander? You have not eaten much and I see that you didn't even drink your wine."

"I drank." Alexander growled, his back still turned to his friend and second in command.

"Well, what is it? Are you ill? Should we send for a doctor?"

The golden-haired king turned his head; the profile of his face was outlined in the light of the high moon. Light seemed to collect in his eyes, casting them into a blood red hue that seemed somewhat ominous to Hephaestion. "I am not sick."

Hephaestion stopped beside his friend, a hand reached out and touched his shoulder, sliding along the scar flecked tanned bicep. "Then what is it?"

"Nothing Hephaestion, just go back to the hall." He snapped, stepped further out onto the balcony.

Frowning, Hephaestion couldn't help but feel confused at his friend's odd behaviour. He knew that Alexander reveled in being enigmatic; he said that it gave him the element of surprise, but never before had he used such treatment on his dearest friends. Hephaestion always knew Alexander because the two had grown into a lot of things together. "Alright, Alexander." When he was like this, the young man knew that Alexander would not let if one pried at him. It was a stubborn streak that ran through him, making it almost annoying when he was in a foul mood and things needed to be done. Alexander would tell him in his own time, Hephaestion had confidence in that.

"Go back to your flawless lover; I know that you deserve him."

Hephaestion stopped in mid-step. It occurred to him then that what was plaguing Alexander was jealousy. "You are jealous."

He turned and stalked towards the other man, his dark eyes narrowed in anger, "Why would I be jealous, Hephaestion? I could have anyone in this palace at the mere flick of my hand."

Raising one fine eyebrow, Hephaestion stared, unafraid of the menace that glided towards him, "Well, then, do you want him?" He asked lightly, his eyes gleaming with something that confounded Alexander and stopped him in his tracks.

"Don't be a fool, Hephaestion."

His eyebrow went up a notch higher, "So what _is_ it then, Alexander? By the gods, I cannot simply divine the information."

Alexander stepped closer, until their noses were inches apart. His mouth was pulled into a tight line and his eyes stared down at him, void of emotion. The calm before the storm. Hephaestion knew that look; it was the look he gave just before he was deciding between the lesser of two evils. It was a look that unnerved everyone around him that knew him, and at that moment, Hephaestion was no exception to the cause.

He wasn't quite sure what had happened, whether it was the hand that had propelled him towards Alexander or the man had simply stepped in, but the smell of wine, sweat, and leather washed over him. Lips crashed down on his and for a moment, all went silent. The world stopped.

Hands roamed with a tenacious hunger that bewildered the smaller man. It seemed to go on for hours, his hands and his mouth, touching almost every inch of his body. His blood pounded in his ears and he seemed unable to control his own body as he touched Alexander in those places he had secretly wondered about.

"You don't realize what you do to me." Alexander rasped his face lost in a shroud of shadow.

Hephaestion smiled softly, tucking one errant lock behind his ear. Fingers brushed against one high cheekbone, following the smooth line of his nose down to kiss-swollen lips, "Just about the same as you do to me?" He said softly.

"What am I going to do with you?" Alexander said quietly, turning away into the moonlight. His expression was unreadable; Hephaestion knew that this was not some silly question Alexander asked, but something serious. "You know what will happen if I take you as my lover."

Unable to help feeling a bit annoyed and confused, Hephaestion stepped around to face Alexander, "And don't I get any say in this?"

With the eyes of a wolf contemplating if dinner will bite back, Alexander eyed the second in command of his armies, "What is it that want, Hephaestion?"

"Our love Hephaestion is something that has never been doubted. Whether it is between the two of us or the entire bloody army, that fact still remains." Strong arms slid around his body, pulling him into Alexander's warmth, "I would die for you."

"Does this change anything, Alexander?"

Shaking his head, Alexander rested his face in the smooth expanse of Hephaestion's neck, "You know it doesn't."

Hephaestion paused in what he was about to say and stared into his eyes, the colour of spilled blood in the light of the moon, "Your eyes in the moonlight are the colour of my sins, Alexander," He said abruptly, then pulled himself from the man's grasp. "scarlet with the blood of my enemies. It has been a stain upon my hands and upon my soul. He held his hands up to the light, although they were clean, he felt the weight of it and the slickness of blood covering his fingers.

"Give me my comfort, Alexander…as I will give you yours. Let's forget about what we are and what we will become. Let us just be for the moment."

Fingers grasped his elfin chin, pushing it up so that his face was no longer covered in a curtain of long hair, "All you have to do is but ask and I will give you what I can." He said softly, his lips brushing against his brow.

"Love me."

"I have given you my love for the day you drew your first breath." Alexander whispered softly, his breath brushing against his delicate earlobe.

"Aye, and I you."

FIN


End file.
